The difference between an animal trained with privileges and rewards rather than one trained with punishment is HUGE.  Instead of being reluctant to obey, “clicker” trained dogs are eager to learn and to offer you new behaviors.  These dogs tend to remember good behaviors for years and are more likely to produce good behaviors because of the positive way in which the behavior was trained.  A dog trained with punishers only behaves in order to avoid some nasty threat or consequence.  What's a clicker for?  The clicker is used because it is more accurate and consistent than the human voice.  We tell our dogs so many confusing things yet the clicker always means one thing: YES!  A dog trained with the clicker often connects a behavior and a reward together easily; even faster than a dog trained without a clicker or with a punisher.  The dog becomes motivated to earn clicks by offering behavior after behavior, building confidence and motivation for compliance.

If a dog does not obey a command, there may be a very good reason: the command may be poorly taught, the environment is too distracting, there is no motivating reason for the dog to comply or this behavior has been punished in the past.  Using a clicker can restore a “broken” behavior and lead the dog to produce reliable behaviors even amidst heavy distractions when properly trained.  Remember, if you are clicking a dog for desired behaviors, then the absence of the clicker marks an undesirable behavior as well!  There is no need to use punishment.  Your dog may see aversive actions from you as random and cruel which can lead your dog to bewilderment, frustration, even aggression.  If you feel punishment is necessary, I recommend choking or shocking yourself repeatedly with an aversive dog collar until you recognize how horrible, irritating and easy to misuse these stimuli are.  Don't forget to whack yourself in the head with a newspaper! You may find many trainers today still push these methods and the reason is simple; punishment can suppress bad behavior.  It can also be misused easily, cause physical/psychological harm and shut down a sensitive or anxious dog beyond hope of repair.  Consider this, should your boss be allowed to physically punish you when you screw up or have a bad day?  Would you be motivated to work for such an insane person?  

Finally, you won’t need to depend upon the clicker and food treats forever!  (Side note: often punishment trainers become dependent on using constant corrections) Our tools are simply used when introducing a new behavior.  Use them until the dog is very fluent in a particular behavior (even with distractions) and then we can fade them easily.  Install a “Payment for Privileges Plan” in the home by collecting behavior payments (such as sit, down or come) for every fun thing the dog wishes to do or to have.  Then begin to incorporate some privileges such as sniffing, getting up on the couch, taking a walk, getting a belly rub or anything that your dog finds extremely reinforcing in random place of your treats.  Scale back your treat usage to only about 25% of the time over several days/weeks.  Then fade the clicker away as well.  Now save your clicker and treats for the next behavior you want to learn with your dog!